Statement on the 30th anniversary of Lithuania’s membership of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe made at the Seimas sitting by Laima Andrikienė, Member of the Seimas
STATEMENT
21 September 2021
Plenary session of the Seimas
Dear Colleagues,
This year is the year of the 30th anniversaries.
Today we have already adopted a Resolution of the Seimas dedicated to the 30th Anniversary of Lithuania’s re-established membership of the United Nations.
I would like to remind you, dear colleagues, of yet another 30th anniversary: on 18 September 1991, in Strasbourg, Lithuania joined the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the oldest parliamentary forum in Europe, established back in 1949, and obtained a special guest status in the organisation. Together with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were also granted the same status in PACE. Lithuania became a full-fledged member of the Council of Europe later, in May 1993.
On 18 September 1991, we thus gained political recognition, which was very much awaited. Together with my colleague Eugenijus Gentvilas, Signatory to the Act of Independence, we were members of the delegation of the Supreme Council of Lithuania at the time and I had the privilege to address the PACE plenary on behalf of the Parliament of Lithuania.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the contribution of the late Ambassador Adolfas Venskus, a very active Frenchman of Lithuanian descent, member of the Christian Democrat International. His good knowledge of the corridors of the PACE organisation and his circle of active friends and acquaintances was instrumental in boosting our courage.
Colleagues, in the beginning of this year, I returned to PACE as a Member of the Delegation of the Lithuanian Seimas and was subsequently elected Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly at its first plenary session in 2021. Thus, it is in the same Plenary Chamber where I ventured to make my first speech 30 years ago that I now represent the Seimas and Lithuania, a full-fledged member of PACE.
In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Lithuania is the Member State that stands for the fundamental principles of the Assembly: democracy, human rights and the rule of law. In today’s turbulent world, our voice and strong position in the Assembly are highly needed.
Laima Andrikienė
Deputy Chair of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs
Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Monika Kutkaitytė